This Vidarbha woman could be your ST bus driver!

This Vidarbha woman could be your ST bus driver!
SRAVANI SARKAR

NAGPUR, JULY 4: Chhaya Shahare looks like a proverbial girl next door. It would seem to anyone that the frail, bespectacled girl with medium-height, could be having nothing exceptional in her. But put her behind the steering-wheel of any heavy vehicle and the change of impression is spectacular.

As she strains to put a heavy luxury bus in reverse gear, the muscles in her frail frame virtually cry out. But the face remains steely. Inspite of the innumerable sweat-beads that form all over her face, the determination remains intact.

This 23-year-old girl from the nearby Bhandara township aims to have a long romance with the shifting gears of a bus. She has her eyes set on an unusual career -- that of becoming a State Transport (ST) bus-driver. On her becoming one, she would be the first woman from Vidarbha to achieve this rare distinction.

Chhaya has already obtained a permanent driving license for heavy vehicles from the Nagpur RTO - perhaps the first woman in the region to have one.

With the elan of a toddler riding a tricycle or a youngster riding a motor-cycle, Chhaya can drive a tractor, a truck, a bus and an ambulance with equal ease. Besides, to gain complete mastery over the heavy machines, she has undergone a post-SSC ITI training in mechanical engineering. So the young lady can even repair and service these vehicles.

But what makes this youngest of the three siblings from a middle-class downtown family nurture such an unusual dream?

``Love for vehicles and driving,'' says Chhaya. She dented the domain of men at a very young age. By the time she turned a teenager, she had driven almost all types of two-wheelers, save the Bullet.

Having done that, Chhaya set her eyes on the family-tractor which lay idle in front of the house during off-season. Soon, she was manoeuvring the giant machine perfectly. Meanwhile, she passed her SSC and joined the ITI mechanical engineering course. She came out with flying colours, scoring the second highest marks amongst her batch-mates.

Losing no time, she undertook a six-week, four-wheeler driving lesson from the Shree Driving School, Medical Square. This was followed by an apprentice period at the workshop of Government Hospital, Bhandara, where Chhaya again got hooked onto heavy vehicles. Among the various vehicles available there, the heaviest - that is the ambulance - was the cherished one. With the support of the hospital authorities, Chhaya drove this ambulance.

Apprenticeship over, she returned to city the to undergo another six-week special training in heavy-vehicle driving. Looking at her frail frame, the driving school authorities initially remained unconvinced of her seriousness. But she ultimately won them over with her determination. ``She is as good in handling heavy-vehicles as any man around,'' says Chitre, the director of the school, obviously proud of his protege.

Chhaya lives upto the praise even as she takes you around in a heavy vehicle and manages to tread on through narrow lanes with versatility.

Presently, Chhaya is employed as an instructor with a private technical training institute at Bhandara. But it is only a stop-gap arrangement. Her goal is to become a full-fledged driver with the State Transport Corporation.

How do her family members react? Thankfully, her parents and two elder brothers are co-operative. ``They have always encouraged me in my endeavour, though everyone was aware that it was a little unusual choice,'' Chhaya said. She also specifically mentioned the name of an elderly family-friend, Sunil Deshpande, who had been of great help to her.

So, some day you might find this courageous woman at the steering-wheel of your bus. Rest easy then, for you would definitely be in safe hands.